In the good ole days of real estate — like 2008, 2009, and 2010 — you could pretty much pick up a rock, throw it in any direction, and hit a good deal.

Cheap real estate was EVERYWHERE.

However, things have changed dramatically.

Finding a deal through a real estate agent is tough. So I had a couple choices: I could sit around and wait for the next real estate crash, or I could get creative and find some different ways to find properties.

So I shifted my lead acquisition strategy, and it worked. Today, I don’t rely on just one method for finding deals — I rely on several. And I recently discovered that my latest five deals all came from completely different sources. So today I wanted to share with you what those five sources were.

1. HUD / MLS

So the first deal I’ll talk about came from the MLS — the Multiple Listing Service, which is where real estate agents post all the properties for sale.

I know I just said that I don’t get a lot of deals from the MLS, but this one is a little different. In this case, I bought a single family home that was a HUD repo. In other words, it was a foreclosure being sold by the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development.

The house was a classic “BRRRR” deal — buy, rehab, rent, refinance, repeat. It needed some work, so I was able to buy it for $70,000, put in about $30,000 worth of work, refinance it to get all my money back out — and now I’m sitting on about $60,000 in equity in that one property. Plus, I own a great cash-flowing rental in a great neighborhood. Thank you, HUD!

Be sure to check out the latest HUD deals in your area by going to www.HUDHomeStore.com or simply talking with a local real estate agent.

2. Zillow

The next property I bought came from Zillow.com. Now, I know Zillow often just lists properties already available on the MLS, but sometimes people post properties for sale by owner there.

That was the case with Bert, who had recently inherited a single family home and needed to sell quickly. After a little negotiation, we put the property under contract, closed on the deal, and are in the middle of the fix and flip right now.

3. Lead Gen Website

I have a pretty basic “I want to buy your house” website, but it works. In this care, Florence searched Google for “local house buyers” and came across my site. She called us up, we looked at the property, and we bought it a few weeks later. This fix and flip will likely become the most profitable I’ve ever done.

If you don’t have a lead gen website, don’t worry. It’s easier than it sounds. You can get a basic one using a site like SquareSpace.com or Wix.com, or you can opt for extra fancy and get some really great features with a company like LeadPropeller. And FYI — if you are a BiggerPockets Pro member, head to BiggerPockets.com/perks for discounts on LeadPropeller and other great services.